Saul Kripke has been a major influence on analytic philosophy and allied
fields for a half-century and more. His early masterpiece, Naming and
Necessity, reversed the pattern of two centuries of philosophizing
about the necessary and the contingent. Although much of his work
remains unpublished, several major essays have now appeared in print,
most recently in his long-awaited collection Philosophical Troubles.
In this book Kripke's long-time colleague, the logician and philosopher
John P. Burgess, offers a thorough and self-contained guide to all of
Kripke's published books and his most important philosophical papers,
old and new. It also provides an authoritative but non-technical account
of Kripke's influential contributions to the study of modal logic and
logical paradoxes. Although Kripke has been anything but a
system-builder, Burgess expertly uncovers the connections between
different parts of his oeuvre. Kripke is shown grappling, often in
opposition to existing traditions, with mysteries surrounding the nature
of necessity, rule-following, and the conscious mind, as well as with
intricate and intriguing puzzles about identity, belief and
self-reference. Clearly contextualizing the full range of Kripke's work,
Burgess outlines, summarizes and surveys the issues raised by each of
the philosopher's major publications.
Kripke will be essential reading for anyone interested in the work of
one of analytic philosophy's greatest living thinkers.
